Hard Drive Doesn't Show in Disk Management

bigmck · 25 May 2012

I purchased a 500 GB drive about a year and a half ago to hold my backups for my main 160 GB drive. Just about everytime I have to reboot my PC, the 500 GB does not show in Computer. I them boot again and it shows and everything is fine. I have attempted to sort this out but no luck yet. Today I had to reboot and the 500 GB did not show. I have rebooted about four times but nothing. I went into the Bios and did not see anything strange. The 500 shows up as it should. The only unusual thing I see in the setup is that my main drive with the C and D partitions is listed as drive 1 while the 500 GB with my backups is listed as drive 0. I believe the reverse is the preferred but don't know if it really matters. Here is my Disk Management and a prompt that says I must initialize it. The two partitions on the 500 GB are primary if that makes a difference and the prompt refers to Logical. Any help is appreciated as to why the 500 GB is not showing. Thanks, == I just found out how to initialize the disk, but it looks like I will lose my backups. Not a big deal, but I want this to not occur again. Does it sound like a bad disk that might be causing this?

seavixen32 · 25 May 2012

Normally, one would expect to see the Windows drive on Sata 0, but I don't think it really matters that it's not.

Initializing the drive means it's asking for it to be partitioned and formatted, but the puzzling thing is why did it lose its partition in the first place?

Was the partition on Drive 0 a logical partition?

I'm off to do some investigating.

I'm back, you may find this of use: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc771775.aspx

bigmck · 25 May 2012

seavixen32 said:

Normally, one would expect to see the Windows drive on Sata 0, but I don't think it really matters that it's not.

Initializing the drive means it's asking for it to be partitioned and formatted, but the puzzling thing is why did it lose its partition in the first place?

Was the partition on Drive 0 a logical partition?

I'm off to do some investigating.

I'm back, you may find this of use: Troubleshooting Disk Management

I got the drive initialized, formatted and my backups on there again. The partitions were and are Primary, there are two. I tried to see a way to make them Logical, but did not see anything and they just came up Primary by default. Any investigating is appreciated. -- Here is what the Disk Management looks like after I got through with it just now. This is also how it was before I had the problem this afternoon. Anything look strange to you?

seavixen32 · 25 May 2012

Well, first appearance, everything looks OK, but if you look at Drive 0 again, the OS backup partition is 3x bigger than your Docs backup partition.

Is this what you intended?

Also, as the partitions were primary and not logical, I'm puzzled as to why the prompt for the Logical Disk Manager appeared.

If you particularly wanted logical partitions, you can always create a Partition Wizard boot disc and carry out your disk management outside of Windows.

bigmck · 25 May 2012

I appreciate the help. The OS and Docs backup are the size I need since my OS is bigger. == I have the Partition Wizard boot disk and will give it a whirl changing to Logical. I will see if that makes a difference. Thanks,

ignatzatsonic · 25 May 2012

bigmck said:

I have the Partition Wizard boot disk and will give it a whirl changing to Logical. I will see if that makes a difference. Thanks,

Make a difference? In what?

I don't see any reason offhand why you would need or want logical partitions. Nothing wrong with them, but why bother in this case? Your Disk Management looks OK as it is.

papagym · 25 May 2012

Hey bigmck,
It look to me that you don't have anythiing on the 500GB (Disk 0). If that is the case why don't you format it again and givee it a name this time X will do. Then put a backup on that x partition and see if it's working all the time. None of this will hurt because you can always wipe it clean again. If that does not work make sure your cables are god and connected (snapped in well.
Hope you find something, good luck
papagym

bigmck · 25 May 2012

I have my backups on Disk 0. After changing to Logical I rebooted and again that drive did not show in Computer. Whether they are Primary or Logical is not affecting my problem. I booted again and it shows fine now. I am going to have to live with this until the end of the year when I am getting a nice PC upgrade. I appreciate everyone's help.

F5ing · 25 May 2012

Maybe falls to sleep? Check power option in device management.

Just a wild guess..

papagym · 27 May 2012

Hey Bigmck,

I'm a little confused by your first and third posts above. In your first post you show an Initalize and Disk Management Photos. Now in your next post you show just the disk management photo. When I compare the (DskMgn) photos there is a difference. The first post shows Disk-0 to be unallocated and you second post shows it to have two Primary Health Partitions F: & G: on it. (Did you make any changes between the two DskMgn. photos?)